


Gravid Green

by Kita_the_Spaz



Series: Pernverse [3]
Category: Dragonriders of Pern - Anne McCaffrey, Naruto
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-06
Updated: 2014-10-06
Packaged: 2018-02-20 03:45:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,451
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2413769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kita_the_Spaz/pseuds/Kita_the_Spaz
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A sick dragon is a miserable one.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Gravid Green

Leareth burped sickly and hung her head, yellow distress swirling in her eyes. She shivered and convulsively tried to bury the foul-smelling mess, claws scratching futilely at the bare rock. _Sorry,_ she murmured plaintively, pressing her head into Ir'ka’s chest.

Ignoring the stinking mess, Ir'ka stroked her face, running soothing fingers over her brow and closed eyelids. “It’s not your fault,” he whispered lovingly.

Obitoth rumbled softly and draped his head over Leareth’s neck, crooning softly. The bronze cupped a wing over his much smaller weyrmate and looked plaintively at his rider.

A scarf across his face to filter out the smell, K'kashi knelt and examined the mess, using a stick from the fireplace to poke and turn over lumps. After a long moment, he glanced up at Ir'ka, who was concentrating on soothing his distressed dragon.

“It looks like it’s mostly undigested firestone, with a lot of acid mixed in.” He held up the stick. The end was sizzling faintly. “She’s not digesting the firestone properly.”

Leareth moaned softly, leaning against both Obitoth and Ir'ka.

Ir'ka looked up at his weyrmate with concern, though his hands continued the work of comforting his distraught dragon. “Leareth’s never sick. Not even when one of the others of her clutch got sick.”

K'kashi rose and regarded Leareth with an assessing eye. "Her color's not off, but she's not looking right." He pulled the scarf down and addressed Leareth directly. "How do you feel?"

Leareth regarded him with an eye that had mostly shaded back to green, though yellow still lurked in its depths. Like her weyrmate, she had taken to talking directly to K'kashi, instead of relaying information through her rider. _Heavy and..._ Whimpering a little, she turned her head again and heaved wretchedly, spewing forth another heap of undigested firestone and stomach acid. _Sick,_ she finished miserably. She pressed her head more firmly into Ir'ka's arms. _I can't fly Fall like this. I can't breath fire to char Thread._

K'kashi reached over to stroke her head soothingly. "I'll go get the dragon-healer," he told her and Ir'ka. "She'll fix you up."

Ir'ka shared a worried look with his weyrmate over Leareth's drooping head and watched K'kashi head down the stairs, his brisk trot utterly unlike the indolent slouch he normally adopted.

It was a matter of minutes for the bronzerider to return, followed by not only Chiyo, the dragon-healer, but also Tsunade.

Tsunade strode forward and stroked Leareth's neck. "We'll get you back in the air soon, no worries."

She grinned over her shoulder at Ir'ka. "What? I was apprenticed to the Healers before I was Searched. I'm still pretty handy at it. Besides, I can't afford one of my best Thread fighters out of commission."

Chiyo was bent over the two steaming piles of sickness, muttering to herself.

So it was the Weyrwoman who urged the green to lay down and let herself be examined. Tsunade began her examination by getting Ir'ka to coax Leareth to open her mouth and peering down the long tunnel of her throat.

Leareth grumbled, stubborn to a fault, and detesting any hands but those of her rider (and rarely, his weyrmate) on her. But she submitted, a sure sign of just how off she was feeling.

Ir'ka suppressed a shiver and moved to stand next to K'kashi.

K'kashi rested a hand on his shoulder and moved closer in silent support. His single eye clearly showed his worry.

_I don't like this,_ Leareth complained peevishly, directing her comment to the woman slowly running her hands over her shining green hide.

Tsunade murmured agreement, sliding her fingers back along Leareth's haunches and down her flanks. "No one likes being ill, Leareth."

Leareth burped again, her jaw hanging open as if she might vomit again, but all that came out was a sickly-sounding moan. She flipped her wings and stretched her neck towards Obitoth. _I don't like this at all,_ she repeated miserably.

Ir'ka leaned into K'kashi's comforting presence, feeling more than a little sick with worry himself. "What's wrong with her?"

Tsunade ignored him, waving to catch the attention of the Dragon-healer. "Chiyo, come tell me if I'm imagining things."

The old woman left off her examination of the mess and came to Tsunade's side. Tsunade directed her hands over an area just under Leareth's haunch.

Leareth hissed annoyance, but suffered herself to be prodded some more.

 

Chiyo _hmmmed_ thoughtfully and gestured peremptorily at Obitoth. "You, bronze, get over here and lay down behind her so she can lean against you. Leareth, you lean back against him and raise this leg," she patted the limb in question. "So I can take a good look at your abdomen."

Both dragons looked questioningly at their riders before moving slowly to obey.

Ir'ka brushed his fingertips lightly across the back of K'kashi's hand before moving to cradle Leareth's head again, knowing his touch would soothe her while she was being examined.

Leareth sighed gustily into his shirt, resignedly allowing the old woman to palpate her abdomen.

Chiyo made a sound deep in her throat that sounded surprised and...oddly pleased. She glanced up at Ir'ka. "When was her last flight, boy?"

Nonplussed, Ir'ka replied, "She flew down to the lake this morning for her bath."

The old woman let out a harsh laugh. "Not that kind of flight, you ninny. When did she last Rise?" The subtle emphasis on the word was unmistakable.

"Oh!" Flushing, Ir'ka calculated swiftly. "Almost two months ago; when we had the really long span where Thread was only falling on the oceans."

Tsunade tapped her lips thoughtfully. "Wasn't it right after that when we had the really hard frost and only Black dust, no Thread?"

K'kashi nodded agreement. "She rose early on in the span when the Thread wasn't over land."

Chiyo hmmed again and pursed her lips. "And this is the first time she's chewed firestone since then?"

Ir'ka nodded slowly. "Leareth strained a wing during a training flight so we were taken off active duty until it healed. So yes."

Chiyo pursed her lips. "That tallies." She waved Imperiously at Ir'ka. "Come here."

Glancing nervously back at K'kashi, Ir'ka paused to give Leareth another lingering caress before obeying.

Grabbing his hand firmly, Chiyo pressed it over the spot where she had been examining. "Feel that?" she asked.

Humming worriedly, Ir'ka ran his fingers gently over Leareth's warm hide. There was a very distinct bulge where Chiyo had guided his hand. He moved his hand slightly and discovered a second lump. Chiyo pointed him to another.

"What is it?" he asked, heart in his throat and feeling not a little sick himself. "What's wrong?"

The old woman grinned suddenly. "Not a damned thing, boy. Those are eggs you feel!"

Ir'ka turned to stare at her in bewilderment. "But..."

"She'll probably clutch in about a month. Probably eight to ten eggs. Likely no more than that, though. She's simply not big enough to carry too many more than that." Chiyo rose and dusted off her knees.

Leareth turned her head to regard her haunches in amazement. _I'm going to clutch? Really?_

Tsunade reached out and stroked her wing, chuckling. "Shizuneth says she is welcome to share the Hatching Grounds with her, so long as she remembers who is the queen."

Ir'ka staggered back a step, absolutely stunned. He was grateful when K'kashi's hand materialized under his elbow and steadied him. "How? I mean, she's a green. Greens don't lay eggs! And why has she been sick!?"

Chiyo looked thoughtful. "I'd wager since she wasn't chewing firestone at the time of her last flight, she conceived. Since she hasn't chewed any of late, she's carrying the eggs to term."

Tsunade tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I think since she's so far into the pregnancy, her body is rejecting the firestone, in order to protect the eggs in her womb." She flicked the edge of Leareth's wing with a fingertip. "You know, I was only half-serious all that time ago when I said I'd be interested in the kind of eggs you and Obitoth would throw."

Leareth ducked her head, distress swirling in her eyes. _Sorry._

"Don't be," Tsunade said sharply. "You have no reason to be sorry. You just concentrate on laying the best clutch around." She turned her attention to Ir'ka. "You are officially relieved of duty until your dragon has clutched." She glanced at K'kashi. "I'll see to it that there's someone to take her place during Falls, so your wing won't go short."

Ir'ka turned to look at his weyrmate, shaken. 

K'kashi wrapped an arm around his shoulders. "Looks like we will get to cause all that mischief, after all. We'd better get started."

**Author's Note:**

> For my mad maunderings about what led me to this point, see this...
> 
>  
> 
> [Ramblings about Greens (or Mental Perambulations about Breeding a Pernese Dragon)](http://kita-the-spaz.livejournal.com/41879.html)


End file.
